Fry’s heroics save Guardians, forces G5 vs. Tigers
DETROIT — Pinch hitter David Fry hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the seventh inning, then bunted home an insurance run in the ninth to help the Cleveland Guardians force a decisive Game 5 against the Detroit Tigers in their American League Division Series with a 5-4 victory on Thursday night.
“David Fry is one of the best baseball players in this league,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said.
Cleveland ended a streak of 11 losses in postseason elimination games dating to Game 6 of 1997 World Series after Emmanuel Clase got five outs for his third multi-inning save of the year.
“It’s win or go home,” Vogt said. “You want your best pitchers out there as long as possible.”
AL Cy Young Award favorite Tarik Skubal will start Game 5 for the Tigers on Saturday afternoon in Cleveland.
“It’s always comforting to have Tarik Skubal on the mound,” Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said.
The winner advances to the AL Championship Series against the New York Yankees or Kansas City Royals starting Monday.
“We’re still one win away,” Detroit first baseman Spencer Torkelson said. “That’s the mindset. We don’t want it easy. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”
Fry said the Guardians’ resilience was no surprise.
“We’ve shown that all year long, that’s who these guys are,” he said. “We have a bunch of tough dudes. We get down 2-1 and we’re in the locker room like it’s just another day. We show up ready to play to try and get a win. And let’s go win Game 5.”
On the verge of reaching the ALCS for the first time since 2013, the Tigers overcame a 2-1 deficit when Zach McKinstry homered in the fifth and Wenceel Pérez hit a run-scoring single in the sixth.
Steven Kwan singled off Sean Guenther with two outs in the seventh.
Beau Brieske had pitched scoreless ball for 5⅓ innings over four postseason appearances before Fry, batting for Kyle Manzardo, drove a fastball off an advertising sign between the two bullpens in left for the second pinch-homer in Cleveland postseason history after Hank Majeski in Game 4 of the 1954 World Series.
That quieted the 44,923 fans who set a playoff attendance record for the second straight day at 25-year-old Comerica Park.
“Such a great baseball game,” Vogt said.
Clase preserved a 4-3 lead in the eighth when he escaped a second-and-third jam by striking out Trey Sweeney on a 100.9 mph cutter as the batter’s helmet came off.
Brayan Rocchio and Kwan hit one-out singles in the ninth and Fry bunted back to reliever Will Vest. Rocchio slid home headfirst to beat Vest’s backhand flip, boosting the lead to 5-3.
That proved to be important.
Pinch hitter Justyn-Henry Malloy doubled leading off the bottom of the ninth, advanced on Parker Meadows‘ groundout and scored on Jace Jung‘s groundout.
Clase, who gave up Kerry Carpenter‘s three-run homer in the ninth inning of the 3-0 loss in Game 2, struck out Matt Vierling, who couldn’t check his swing on a low and outside cutter.
“I was really excited to get to the mound, especially getting the trust back from the manager to get me in that role and that responsibility,” Clase said through an interpreter.
Lane Thomas ended the Guardians’ 20-inning scoreless streak with a two-out RBI single in the first off Reese Olson, who did not allow a run in the first inning of 22 regular-season starts
Sweeney hit a sacrifice fly in the second and Jose Ramirez put Cleveland ahead with a fifth-inning homere off Tyler Holton, ending an 0-for-10 skid.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Carpenter injured his left hamstring when he scored in the sixth and was pinch hit for in the seventh.
“It’s concerning, but I’m going to hold off any thoughts until the doctors give me an update and he gets imaging and all the things that we need to do prior to Saturday,” Hinch said.
UP NEXT
Left-hander Matthew Boyd may start Game 5 for the Guardians, whose last Game 5 was a loss to the Yankees in the 2022 ALCS. Vogt said the team will make that decision Friday.
Cincinnati Reds left-hander Wade Miley said Friday that he has not been accused of any wrongdoing, one day after reports stated a deposition from a lawsuit alleged he supplied Tyler Skaggs with drugs when both players were with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The deposition is part of a motion for summary judgment filed by the Los Angeles Angels, requesting a lawsuit from the Skaggs family be dismissed.
The deposition from Ryan Hamill, Skaggs’ agent, contains testimony that he was concerned in 2013 about Skaggs’ drug use. Hamill said he and Skaggs’ family confronted Skaggs about his drug use. Skaggs was then in his second season as a teammate of Miley with the Diamondbacks.
“He came clean,” Hamill testified. “He said he had been using — I believe it was Percocets — and he said he got them through Wade Miley.”
Skaggs died on July 1, 2019, at age 27 in a Dallas-area hotel. The autopsy found fentanyl, oxycodone and alcohol in his system.
Miley briefly addressed the issue before Friday’s road game against the Detroit Tigers.
“I hate what happened to Tyler, it sucks. My thoughts are with his family and his friends,” Miley said. “But I’m not going to sit here and talk about things that someone might have said about me or whatnot. I was never a witness for any of this. I was never accused of any wrongdoing.”
Former Angels communications director Eric Kay is serving a 22-year prison sentence in Texas after being found guilty on two charges of providing drugs related on Skaggs’ overdose.
The Athletic reported that the criminal proceedings against Kay included a recorded phone conversation in which Kay told his mother that Miley was a drug source to Skaggs.
Asked if Major League Baseball has contacted him regarding the allegations, Miley said, “I’d rather just focus on the Cincinnati Reds right now and baseball and what I have to do moving forward. I’ve got to get ready for a game on Sunday.”
Miley was mentioned in Kay’s criminal case, but he was never charged with a crime.
Skaggs was traded to the Angels after the 2013 season. He went 28-38 with a 4.41 ERA in 96 career starts.
Miley, 38, is with his eighth big league team and attempting to revive his career after Tommy John surgery in 2024.
Miley has a career 109-99 mark with a 4.09 ERA in 319 games (311 starts) since making his major league debut in 2011. This is his second go-round with the Reds. He was with the team in the 2020 and 2021 seasons, going 12-10 with a 3.55 ERA in 177⅓ innings over 34 starts (32 innings).
The Skaggs family is suing the Angels, contending that high-level team officials, as well as other employees, knew Kay was a drug user and should have known he was Skaggs’ source.
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